British Library, London

The official book depository of the United Kingdom, the British Library holds a copy of every book ever printed here, and a wide variety of periodicals.

The official book depository of the United Kingdom, the British Library holds a copy of every book ever printed here, and a wide variety of periodicals. No less than 150 million items catalogued and there is an unimaginable 625 km of shelving! Visitors may not enter the museum itself, but there is a very good exhibition chronicling the history of the written and printed word, collecting some of the museum's best known exhibits, including two of the original manuscripts of the Magna Carta and Leonardo Da Vinci's notebook. In the central atrium stands The King's Library (the library of King George III) surrounded by a glass wall, so visitors can watch librarians retrieving books for readers.

The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology at the University College London preserves the teaching collection of Sir William Flinders Petrie, one of Britain's greatest archaeologists and has built upon it